


Prey

by FierceChai



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Snow, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Winter, bbs doing some detective work yes, i was actually mad that dimitri never really finds out more about twsitd in azure moon so I fix that, look at them being so supportive to each other I stan, the pining starts in the second chapter tho, this fic is rather platonic but there will be HINTS
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28248471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FierceChai/pseuds/FierceChai
Summary: After Fhirdiad had been liberated from Cornelia's tyranny, a gruesome revelation from her dying breath came to light.Before moving on to fight the Empire, Dimitri and Byleth decide to seek the truth about the tragedy of Duscur and the crimes the Cornelia had committed. The clues lead to a snowy, desolate region of Faerghus and the hardships made them recognize the strength of their bond.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	1. Rise

It was an early morning, long before the sun showed up. A gentle breeze ran through the walls, heralding the dawn of a new day.

Everything was quiet and it seemed to be one of the rare moments untouched by the tides of war.  
The others were still asleep and used the free time to get back their lost sleep. However, this was not the case for everyone.

Still shaken by the recent events and unable to take rest in the palace's chambers, Byleth strolled aimlessly around the courtyard.  
Even though winter did not arrive yet, the air in Fhirdiad was quite icy. 

Walking around at this hour offered no comfort, but it distracted her from unwanted thoughts for a moment.

After walking past the stables, she wondered whether she saw someone familiar getting ready for a ride.  
She took a few steps to peek through the door, and it was indeed him.

"Dima? Why are you not asleep?“, she asked calmly to not startle him, but he felt her presence long ago.

"Prof- I mean… Byleth", he said, slightly stumbling over his words. It seemed that he was less surprised by her appearing out of nowhere,  
but rather her calling him by that nickname. 

After a short pause, he put a couple of bags on the horse's back.  
"I could ask you the same question", he answered with a hint of concern,  
"Did you work yourself through the night again? This is not good for your well-being in the long run."

She nodded but did not know how to counter that. Instead, the young woman lingered her gaze on the supplies he gathered.  
"You are not going for a short trip, right?", Byleth asked.  
Dimitri hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath. He could never bring himself to lie to her as her stare was too intense. 

"After we defeated Cornelia the other day", he said, "Her last words kept echoing in my mind. There must be so much more to it."  
She observed him while he spoke. He tensed up and clenched his fists. 

What also caught her eye was that he was not wearing his usual heavy armor.  
It seemed to be a lighter one, designed to travel long distances and move more quickly. It was adorned with thick fur to withstand low temperatures.  
His hair was partly tied back and messy as if he had just jumped out the bed.

"Are you suspecting that what she said isn‘t true?", she asked.

He shook his head. "I… I'm not sure. The others assume that she wanted to mock me, but I believe there is truth to it. But not the whole truth."

Dimitri turned around and fetched something out of one of the bags. A small, old notebook.  
"I looked around Cornelias belongings to find more clues. You should take a look at it."

He handed it to her and paced around the room while she skipped through the pages.  
It seemed like a diary at first, but rather something the woman used to drop off some quick notes.

"The notebook frequently mentions a certain place. It seemed to be of high importance for her and can therefore lead to more evidence.", he asked.

"So you intended to go and investigate it all on your own?", she asked and slightly frowned.

"I do not want to drag anyone into this matter and take care of this myself."

Byleth looked at him in disbelief and remained silent for a moment. He observed her expressions for a bit and was surprised about the range of emotion she showed lately, compared to years ago. This caught him off-guard until she finally formed her answer.

"As far as I can recall from the notebook, the hideout is located in an isolated region in the north of Faerghus?", she said, "This is suicide if you go alone."

Dimitri crossed his arms. "What do you suggest? Shall I ask someone to accompany me to-"  
"I will come with you.", she said, interrupting him.

He did not reply at first due to being struck by surprise. "This is out of the question. It is a place that had been struck by famine and abandoned ever since. You've seen enough sorrow already."

She turned around and headed back to the door. "I am going back to my quarters to check if I have more fitting attire."

"No, wait!", he called for her but lowered his voice mid-sentence to not wake anyone up.  
"If you die over there, it would be quite embarrassing.", she said and kept walking. 

On a closer look, he realized that she was simply running around in her nightgown with only a fur cape thrown around her shoulder.  
It was indeed a strange look, but unsurprising considering her peculiar nature.

\------

After arriving at the gates of the city on horseback, the man waited for her to join him.  
Byleth could be seen in the distance with a steed, emerging from the fog.  
She stopped right next to him and remained silent at first, glancing into the distance.

The sun was still low, giving the sky a slight shade of lavender. The cold, humid air left a blanket of mist on the plains.  
A dweller walked across the street, starting the workday early in the morning. The only sound was the soft whisper of the wind.

She had never witnessed a sight so peaceful in a long time after days of wading through the war.  
The townspeople had not seen any moment of peace either. They suffocated under Cornelia's reign back then, but to see a moment of calm returning to Fhirdiad after the liberation gave her a moment of relief.

Byleth snapped out of her thoughts and turned her gaze to Dimitri instead.  
"Have you told the others?", she asked and cleared her throat from the sharp, crisp air.  
"No, I'm afraid it could cause some unnecessary turmoil. They deserve the rest after all that stress."  
"And you don't?"

"In all honesty, I will only truly rest until I have set everything right.", he replied and made a short pause, "But if you insist, I can take a short nap sometime along the way."

They slowly followed the route down the hill, but it was too narrow to go in full gallop. There was nothing left to say while they disappeared into the unknown.  
After passing a few fields, the trail began to fade. Most of the infrastructure ended.  
The sun started to rise, throwing a few rays to break into the cold and grant some warmth.

"Byleth?", Dimitri shouted, hoping she could still hear him despite the wind, "Thank you."  
„I got your back.", she replied. 

\--------

This part of Faerghus was known to be the most frigid region in Fódlan that allowed no settlements due to the harsh climate. The frequent storms and relentless fall of snow created an environment hostile to life.  
Nevertheless, some people persevered and turned it into their home.

At first, a few shreds of snow were scattered along the road. Later on, the ground was covered by it completely like a thick blanket. The pine trees offered a bit of shade from the blinding sun, but the warmth did not manage to break through the dry, cold air.

"How does it feel like to come home?", Byleth asked, breathing out warm air that turned into white clouds.  
"I missed Faerghus so much. The cold feels like a comforting embrace welcoming us. I haven't felt at peace in a long time.", Dimitri said and looked into the sky with a faint smile, "When things calm down... we should make more trips around the kingdom. There are wonderful places where you can go fishing too." 

Byleth tried to wrap herself in the fur coat more. Even in her mercenary times, she did not visit icy environments often and could not build up the same resistance like the Blue Lions could. But for now, it was still tolerable since the breeze calmed down. 

They passed through a few abandoned towns, clouded rivers, and meadows blanketed by fresh, powdery snow.  
The plains were vast, with the whiteness so blinding that they needed to narrow their eyes.  
Somewhere on the horizon looked like another grove greeting travelers into the hinterlands. 

Dimitri kept glancing at her a few times, out of curiosity if she would initiate a conversation like in the tea times. But something was off.  
She seemed to return more and more to her distant blank self. 

"Is something on your mind?", he finally asked.

Her expression did not change and she kept looking forward. "I was just lost in thought for a bit."  
Byleth made a long pause, unsure if she should reveal her thoughts or not. 

"It must be nothing new but… the recent events are starting to take a toll on me too.", she said and took a deep breath,  
"Before I arrived at the academy and traveled around as a mercenary, I barely felt anything, you know? I never felt shaken or sad to the point that it frightened some people."

She stayed quiet for a bit and noticed the clarity of the sound from their voices. It must have been an effect from the cooler air.  
"But after I got to meet you and the others at the academy back then, I felt I was opening up, letting my guard down. You were my home.", Byleth added. 

Her tone became unusually fragile. "Did I become too soft? Weak? Do I have to learn to be vulnerable? Why do I feel my emotions more intensely?"

The stern expression began to crack, revealing a frown.  
"To make the pain more bearable... I sometimes wish to become numb again like I used to." They made it to the end of the wintry fields and slowly approached the woods.  
The sky started to hide behind the clouds. It looked like there would be another snowfall soon.

"I understand. As much as I‘d love to become numb to the pain as well, there is one thing you need to consider.", he replied and looked for the right path among the bushes. 

"If you want to feel numb again, how do you want to feel joy as well? As frightening as it might feel, will you allow yourself to be vulnerable? To feel and express everything fully, no matter if it is good or bad?"

Her stiff posture loosened up a bit. She caught herself trying to escape to her old, cold self. But it did not work. Her heart already opened up long ago.

"Remember when I told you about how you taught me to live? Is it not time for you to learn how to live as well? Not just act tough and survive?", he added and attempted to win back the eye contact, "It is challenging under current circumstances, but how else are we supposed to make it until the end?"

"I hope I‘m strong enough for it.", she replied. It seemed like bit of peace returned to her mind for now.  
Dimitri reached out to give her a soft pat on the shoulder and left the conversation as it was. Following another narrow road, they continued to walk in silence.

\-----

The weather changed drastically after a few hours and created a thick wall of ashen clouds in the sky. It was snowing but way heavier than expected.  
The falling snowflake chunks made it hard to see. It became even more troublesome for the horses to move forward. Now the cold bit through into the skin like a feral animal. 

"Are you keeping up?", Dimitri said at a higher volume to break through the howling air. She did not hear him and focused on a bridge that emerged from the mist. It was a colossal stone structure that provided a safe path over the frozen river.  
Byleth searched for other ways to pass through, but it was the only one. 

The fog started to lift, revealing a group of men lingering around.  
Since they needed to walk past them, they slowly approached the crowd. They could not identify who they were until one of them turned around and opened his mouth.

"You have to pay a fee to pass.", the man said in the bluntest way possible, without a greeting.

Byleth remained unfazed and got off the horse. She inspected the whole bridge and realized that rushing right through them to avoid confrontation was impossible.  
Dimitri searched around the bags, trying to conceal his disgruntled expression.  
The man took a few steps forward and got more intrusive. 

"Are you deaf?", the bandit now said in a harsher tone. While shifting around, he got a glimpse of their faces. He widened his eyes and bursted out laughing. 

"What a lucky day. Is it Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd himself?"  
Dimitri got off the horse and glared at him.  
"Did you know that the Empire put quite a large sum on your head?", the man announced in a teasing voice. 

Byleth observed the group in the meantime. They did not seem experienced enough to be actual bounty hunters, but rather thugs who kept harassing travelers for a living. However, they were well equipped and intended to use the ongoing snowstorm as an advantage.

Dimitri collected himself and raised his hands. "Just take it and get out of my sight."  
"You know what? We don't care about your bags. Your head is more valuable.", the leader said and drew his sword.

The rest picked up their weapons as well. Byleth unconsciously switched to the prince's right side to fill in the blind spot of his lost eye.

"Shall we defend ourselves until we can flee? There are too many.", he suggested and grabbed his weapon. 

She did not hear him well since the howling wind became more piercing. The adrenaline clouded her mind as two people against an entire gang were daunting odds. No back up, no healers and no one to get help.

The bandit leader made the first move, attempting to stab Dimitri's good eye. He dodged and created more distance with the lance.

"Shall we see who outlasts the storm first?", one of the criminals said, stepping back to let a member attack with an axe. It got parried immediately.

While being distracted withstanding the blows, another outlaw targeted Dimitri‘s back but failed as Byleth stepped in and shoved him away.  
She charged forward and cut through the bandit's arm. The man grunted in pain and stepped aside to lean against the stone wall, wailing in agony.

"This is our chance.", she shouted. But she realized that the weather had been a merciless foe as all, wearing them down more and more.  
It seemed as if it did not matter who was more skilled with the blade, but who ended up freezing first.

"If you retreat now we will spare your lives!", Dimitri grunted and grew more impatient while parrying hits.  
One of the bandits ran to him but unexpectedly changed his direction. He targeted Byleth instead.

"Hey, you fool! We are focusing on the lad here, not her! Get back here-", the leader yelled, but it was too late.

Before the goliath could strike the woman with the hammer, he felt an excruciating pain shooting through his spine. He dropped his weapon and kneeled to the ground like a lifeless puppet losing its threads.

Dimitri teared out the spear from his body and let him collide with the stone floor. "Who is next?"

Another outlaw ran at him out of pure rage for the fallen member, but his throat got slit open before he could raise his blade. The man fell into the bed of snow, turning it crimson.  
The rest of the group stepped back for a second, terrified by his wrath that almost seemed inhuman. 

Byleth used the moment of shock to cut across the shoulder of another opponent. It crippled him enough to discard his sword and lay on the ground. 

The leader commanded his remaining men to step back and use their horns. It created a dull sound that echoed through the valley.

"Reinforcements?", Byleth said out of breath, "It is pointless. They want to tire us."  
They glanced to where the horses were, but they got stolen.

Byleth stepped on the bridge fence and looked down. It did not seem high enough to break their bones from the fall. The river was frozen solid.  
Without hesitation, she reached for Dimitri's hand and jumped.

Colliding with the ground was painful, but the damage was minimal enough to get up.  
"Are you alright?", Dimitri asked and tried to help her up. She ended up lying flat on the ground after landing on her feet.  
There was no answer as she still had to recover from the impact.

The outlaw leader arrived a few meters away from them, with the axe stuck in the ice. He pulled it back out and continued his hunt for the boar.

The fog and the falling snow created a thick curtain that made it impossible to see.  
They heard his war cry but could not identify where it came from.

Byleth managed to get up while leaning towards Dimitri's arm, entering a state of hypervigilance. The enemy could jump out of nowhere at any moment.

"I will hunt him down first.", Dimitri uttered in a calm voice, but it did not cover the scalding rage.  
He walked into the mist and began to follow the echoes.

"I'm staying close just in case you need a backup.", she replied and went in the same direction. While looking skyward, she noticed that the rest of the gang stayed on the bridge.  
There was a hint of fear in their eyes that held them back.

The leader was hit by surprise as his prey was running at him at full speed. He reacted too slow and ended up violently knocked into the ground by Dimitri, crashing on the rough ice. 

After entering a state of panic, he grabbed one of his daggers and randomly threw it into his direction.  
Dimitri evaded it in a split second, but the blade brushed his left cheek and left a veil of blood.

The bandit kept brabbling something that could not be understood. His voice slowly extinguished as his injuries and the temperatures started to wear him down.

Dimitri was about to pierce the lance into the man's chest. But he lowered the weapon, took a deep breath and walked away. 

The predator made the impression of a frail wounded deer, fighting for his life.  
He desperately scratched the surface of the river to crawl away. His henchmen looked at the scene for a while and came to his aid.

In the distance, they saw the two demons disappearing into the tempest, knowing they won‘t last long without their supplies.


	2. Insomnia

The storm began to devour everything in the way.  
While they waded through the knee-high snow, the wind shipped into their faces relentlessly, so painful like the sting of thousand needles. 

"The village is not far, I know it. ", Dimitri said with unshaken certainty, but his steps became more sluggish as the tiredness started to set in. 

"What about your wound?", Byleth asked and reached for his chin to turn his face. It was a rather superficial cut, covering the right temple and cheek.

The blood was smudged all over the place as he tried to wipe it away. The eyepatch was gone since the dagger probably hit the strap.

"That is irrelevant. Can you cope with the cold?", he asked and looked at her for a moment, "You look pale."

While looking at the surroundings for a bit, she got struck by surprise when he wrapped a scarf around her head up to the nose. It made the stinging sensation more bearable. 

"Don‘t you need it yourself?", she asked while looking at his face. 

He did not reply to her and shook his head with a weak smile, but he struggled to keep his eye open. His eyelashes were almost frozen.

The bright horizon vanished into the snow. There was no line separating the ground from the sky, making it seem like walking into an endless white abyss.

Moving forward became increasingly taxing and more disorientating, causing a feeling of dizziness.

"What... what do you think we are going to find there?", Byleth asked all of a sudden, in an attempt to stay awake. 

Dimitri kept looking forward, fixed on a horizon that disappeared long ago.

"One of Cornelia's residences? A hideout? I wish I knew.", he said with his voice slowly quieting down.

It took over an hour to finally see the contour of a cabin in the distance. The fog made it hard to confirm that it was real.

They arrived at the small wooden house that stood alone in the middle of the unending snowy hills. Due to exhaustion, they could not express any relief.

The facade of the cabin looked quite neat, adorned with light birch wood. It outlasted the storm with no protection from trees or other buildings, like a stone in the raging current of a river.

The interior revealed that it used to be someone's home, but life was long gone. Everything looked somehow new and fresh but knocked over and messy. 

The doors to the rooms were wide open and empty. A faint warmth was still there but slowly died down as the residents would never return. Despite the eerie atmosphere, it was suitable enough to be a safe room for the journey. 

They remained still for a while until Dimitri walked to the unlit fireplace and sat down in front of it. "Shall we stay here for a while?", he said and put in some of the firewood from nearby.

Byleth felt the urge to throw herself into one of the beds, but it felt strange to use something that belonged to someone.

She looked around in the living room's cabinets to look for something useful. A wound dressing would have been ideal, but most of the supplies were scavenged already. She ripped a random piece of cloth and soaked it in alcohol. 

"Here.", she said and put it on the wound without a prior warning. He flinched from surprise for a moment and silently continued to prepare the fire. 

"I wish Mercie was here but… this is all I can do.", she whispered and kept holding the fabric. 

"Thank you, you‘re so kind.", he answered, "But isn't your arm getting tired from holding it up this long?"

She noticed the growing restlessness in him again as the hypervigilance did not fade away, always checking the doors and windows.

While he was busy, she started to look at him more closely. It was an unusual sight without the eyepatch, revealing a closed eye with a deep scar covering it.

For some reason, she remembered how Sylvain once said how he was winking at people permanently. But the comment wasn't well received.

After a while, he wanted to hold the cloth himself now, putting his hand on hers to signal that. 

"Your hand is so cold.", he said and didn't let go. Due to being outside for too long, it went numb completely. She couldn't feel any pressure or warmth from the grip.

"It's a bit better now.", she said and withdrew her hand. 

Byleth pulled some of the blankets from the nearby beds and placed them in front of the fire. To sleep in these beds felt wrong, and the heat of the fireplace would never reach them.

The fatigue almost put her into a state of trance, barely able to stand on two feet anymore.

"You can go to sleep while I stay awake to keep watch.", Dimitri said and crossed his arms, leaned a bit towards a wooden pillar to make himself a bit more comfortable. 

She placed some layers of fur and blankets on the floor and nestled into them. However, something kept her awake, making her gaze wander around the room. After a while, it landed on him.

Dimitri took note that she started to outright stare, with an expression that turned more woeful. 

"Is something the matter?", Dimitri asked and managed to light up the fire. 

The heat started to unfold and enveloped the whole room. Nonetheless, it would take some time until it created enough warmth to take a rest.

"I should have been there.", she said and didn‘t put her eyes away from his scar.

He gave her a tired look, not sure at first what she was talking about.

"You were in a coma back then. This is not your fault.", he answered, "So you please do not think you should have been there. You already did so much that I'm eternally grateful for."

She got lost in thought again and looked at the small fire which danced around the ash.

"When you had no one left", she said, "What kept you going? How are you still alive despite everything?"

They went silent and sat still for a while. Outside the cabin, the storm stayed and kept whispering like a spiteful ghost.

"When I received the news that you had fallen, I felt like... I got stabbed and... it ripped open a deep void that never went away."

Dimitri looked in a different direction, making it difficult to see his face.

"After I escaped the prison and lost Dedue, I was alone. There was nobody left."

Byleth moved closer to the fire. "Did you have hope?"

"No. It was pure spite and anger. I kept going because I had nothing to lose anymore. I thought my actions didn't matter because I believed I would get killed soon anyway."

He took a deep breath and needed a moment to translate his memories into words. "Perhaps I survived out of sheer luck. Who knows what the goddess kept me alive for."

Dimitri made a long pause and didn't know what else to say as his words left a heavy lump in the throat.  
He shifted nearer towards the fire to warm up a bit. 

"And where had you been during these five years while I was gone?", she asked and tilted her head. 

"This is... quite a long story. I promise I will tell you more about my journey when things calm down. Shall we... talk about it in our next tea time?"  
"I look forward to it." 

Dimitri turned back to her and noted that something in her tone had changed. Her eyes seemed warm, with an expression that so raw and vulnerable. As the gaze pierced into his soul, he felt startled and looked away again.

Byleth started to look at the crackling fire now and tried to rest, but somehow the tension of the day ran so deep that it was impossible to fall asleep. The storm started to fade away, leaving behind the soft noise of snow tapping on the windows.

"Dimitri?", Byleth asked out of nowhere after a few hours of silence.  
"Yes?", Dimitri answered right away, having remained in the same pose as before. 

"Do you have trouble falling asleep? Hmmm, do you want to talk a bit? Or… don‘t you usually read before you go to bed?", he asked in a quiet voice.

Dimitri got up and looked around the living room. Most shelves were empty. Some of the remaining books had fading pages, making them useless. The only one that caught his eye was left alone on top of a decaying wardrobe. 

"I wish I could find something interesting. But this is the only one.", he said and handed it over to her. 

It was a quite thin book with fancy ornaments. The pages were quite old, with messy notes on the corners.

"What is this?", she asked and couldn't find the title on the cover.

He leaned forward in surprise. "You never heard of it? It's a quite famous book around Fódlan. Did Jeralt withhold that from you too?", he said with a frown and took a look at the pages, "I read it when I was young."

She tilted the novel around a bit to have a closer look.  
"What is it about?", she asked and opened the first page. 

"It's a collection of short stories and poems. I have to warn you since they're a bit... corny.", he explained and remembered more peaceful, simpler times when he read it for the first time.

"I reread it a lot, especially in the aftermath of the tragedy in Duscur. Maybe it helps you to distract yourself as well."

Instead of leaning against the pillar again, Dimitri sat next to her.  
After a while, he thought that the fireplace had warmed up the house completely. But what actually ignited the warmth in his chest was to observe her reading. It was the stern look in her eyes and the swift movements whenever she turned another page.

Nearing the end of the book, Byleth felt the need to skip back and repeat a paragraph. 

"...To flee from the hell their home had become, the goddess offered them a refuge that would allow them to live in solitude forever. One of them turned into the ocean. The other one became the moon.", she said in a tired voice.

"The ocean tries to reach the moon with its waves. The moon tries to pull them up with its gravity. The tides would reunite them."

Byleth closed the book. "It's not my cup of tea but still a nice read before bed, right?", she said and yawned, "That reminds me a bit of how Flayn once said that I am like the ocean? Maybe she was referring to this book."

"Really? Why so?", Dimitri asked and rested the chin on his hand.

"She said something like I‘m calm and destructive at the same time. I‘m not sure what that means."

Byleth remembered that it might come from her hair color as well, resembling the deep sea five years ago, and now it was light green like the shallow seashore. 

While he started to get more sleepy, she attempted to put off the cloak from his shoulders.

"Do you think she is right?", she asked and seemed a bit pensive about the description.

"I think you rather seem to cradle people gently on the surface until they feel at ease, the way you make sure how everybody is alright and safe. But if need to be, you know when to raise a storm.", Dimitri said.

He noticed that she looked at the floor, closing her eyes.  
"Are you dozing off?", he asked and put a blanket over her shoulder.  
He intended to continue keeping watch, but she woke up from the sleepy state, giving him a glare. 

"I'm sorry, maybe I didn't word it the right way.", Dimitri said and made a nervous laugh.

"No, it's not about what you said. It just bothers me that you're not taking a rest."

"I can rest this way.", he said and sat down in the same spot as before. 

She signed and moved in front of him, cupping his face with her hands. "I can‘t sleep if you don‘t sleep."

He got a little flustered by the sudden touch. "I-"  
"Please. You need to be ready for tomorrow.", Byleth said, growing more insistent than before, and stroked the scarred eye with her thumb.

The tension seemed to leave him more and more, almost as if he began to melt into her hands. And revealing the actual exhaustion that was hiding underneath. 

He wished to fall asleep like this, closing his eye.  
„As you wish.“, he said and wished to return her gesture somehow, and kissed her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading this far! I had a few responsibilities going on so it took a bit longer to finish this chapter. 
> 
> When this series is done, I'm considering to also write about the 5 year time-skip gap and what Dimitri did there.


	3. Path to Hell

The sound of the wind returned and it kept whispering relentlessly, unclear whether it was a storm or an actual person speaking.  
Dimitri felt like walking through an endless snowy tundra. Everything seemed surreal and detached from reality. The snow was pulling him down like quicksand. 

Even though he was supposed to be eaten alive by the cold, he didn't feel anything, almost warm even. Unable to stop walking, he wondered whether he was stuck in memory and if the ghosts of the past visited him again. Or if this was the actual path to the eternal flames. Maybe the path to hell was a freezing, unforgiving place after all. 

Something made him feel like he was hunted down by someone.  
The harsh light in the sky left a burning sensation in the eyes. It was unclear whether it was the sun or the moon hanging from the sky.

Dimitri tried to rub his eyes, only to find out that his eye was long gone. He threw away his cloak some time ago, as paradoxically he couldn‘t bear the heat he felt in his limbs and was confused where that feeling even came from.

The walk seemed like an eternity. The scenery never changed, and the journey would never end. It felt pointless to keep moving forward and there was nothing to reach.

He became slower and more sluggish until he stopped, letting the voices consume him. His soul got too weary to keep on running away. The only thing left was exhaustion. Utter, soul-draining, bone-weary exhaustion.

It was too tempting to kneel into the snow and stay there. How easy it would have been to lay there as if it were the white, clean sheets of a bed. And go to sleep.

Burying his hands into the snow and looking up, he waited for whoever pursued him. Asking himself who was coming to bury him, the voices in his head kept multiplying and repeating the question like a chorus, over and over again.

Who will you send to bury me?  
Cheer up, cheer up, my soul  
Who will you send to bury me?  
Cheer up, cheer up, my soul  
Who will you send to bury me? 

A crowd appeared in the distance, slowly stepping down the hill. They didn‘t seem to be eager to strike him down, but rather just as weary like him.  
His vision was declining as the throbbing pain of the missing eye took over the good eye as well, making it difficult to recognize who hunted him down.

It seemed like he gazed into a three-paneled mirror with a hallway reflecting an infinite number of himself, their faces distorted from pain.  
"Don't you think it is time to sleep?"

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dimitri jumped out of the bed, breathing heavy with a face filled with shock. He looked around and saw Byleth standing by the fireplace, startled by the sudden noise.

„Are you okay?“, she asked and put on back her armor, „Did you have a nightmare?“

His gaze lingered at her for a while and then looked away. He opened his mouth but every single word died down.

„Is it the voices again?“, she asked calmly, but worried.

„No, it‘s nothing to worry about.“, he answered and put the sheets away to get up.  
The fireplace was extinguished a long time ago and the air began to freeze again.

Byleth already made herself ready to continue the journey, standing close to the door in full armor.  
It seemed to be late morning, a bit later than Dimitri would usually start the day, making him realize he overslept.

„Why didn‘t you wake me up?“, he asked and hurriedly adjusted his clothes, still shivering from getting up so suddenly.

„You needed it.“, she said waited for him to get ready as well.

As he prepared himself for getting outside, he seemed to have lost his hair tie last night and ran around with messy hair strands falling over his face. She remembered how he used to not wear a tie and didn‘t pay attention to his hairstyle back then, especially during that time when he lost himself. 

„Shall I bring your hair back into place?“, she asked and found another one in her pockets.

„Oh… of course.“, he said, struck with surprise.  
She had some trouble reaching for his head, so he took one of the chairs from the living room and sat down.

„How do you even see with your hair all over the place“, she asked and began to brush his hair with her fingers.

Dimitri stayed quiet and simply nodded, caught a little off-guard from having his hair combed and receiving head scratches. He started to loosen up a bit.

She gave him a close look after being done, realizing that he looked paler than the day before. But her gesture helped to give a bit of a distraction.

"Alright let's go now, we don't have much time.", Byleth said and put on her gauntlets.

Dimitri stood up and faced the door, but rested his hand on the doorknob for a second. He slowly opened the door and the icy wind from the outside started to whip against it.

Besides the everlasting breeze, no storm or fog was hanging in the air. Even the sun peaked through the clouds, giving a gentle stroke of warmth.  
With the mist being gone, it was even possible to see the city of Fhirdiad somewhere very small in the distance.

Byleth followed him outside, almost sinking into the snow by the knees. She also looked at the view at first but stopped once she saw Dimitri turning around, frowning.

Before asking, she did the same.  
The village they were looking for was right here, appearing like a ghost.

It was strange how it wasn‘t visible at first, hidden in the thick curtain of fog and falling snow. But the empty cabin was at the border of the settlement all along.  
There was no sound coming from there as if the village didn‘t exist.

They slowly walked towards the gates where nobody would greet them. At first glance and from looking more closely, the houses were buried under meters of thick snow and suffocating under it. The walls and roofs started to decay with nobody to maintain them. Some winter hardened plants began to eat through the homes.

The sun shone on the few remains laying around the ground. Food baskets, children's toys, fishing nets, gradually becoming one with the soil.  
A few deers looked for shelter under the wooden roofs and fled back into the forest with each step they made.

„We need supplies.“, Byleth said and walked in the direction of the first house that was the closest.

Even though the weather had been less harsh compared to the day before, the cold was unbearable. While she fought her way through the walls of snow, she realized how it was eating away all the energy that was left.

Somewhere in the distance, there was an unearthly howling sound. Through the fogginess in her mind, she couldn‘t identify what it was.  
Dimitri looked at her with worry, knowing there isn‘t anything more he could give her to keep her warm.

The cabin looked just like the others, somehow difficult to tell apart from the other ones the way it bled from the constant rough weather. There was something that looked like a small garden with tall grass and tools lying around.  
Without looking around any further, Byleth grabbed the doorknob which almost fell off, and entered the house.

It was way too dark to see anything, the sun from the outside not being able to go through. The interior was quite tidy compared to the previous cabin they visited before. But quite dusty with a smell that revealed a place where someone lived, cooked, and put flowers in vases. And was now being reclaimed by nature and wildlife.

It made the air inside quite heavy, but it retained a bit of warmth compared to the temperatures outdoors. This atmosphere gave a strange sense of comfort and anguish at the same time. 

After passing through the aisle, she saw a ray of light coming from a gap in the roof which shone on the table of the living room, right beside Dimitri.

„Did you find anything?“, she asked from across the room.

„Yes actually!“, he said and his face lit up. It was a longer and way heavier cloak that was traditionally worn by faerghean citizens. 

„As you can see it's way larger than the one you are wearing right now. It should keep you warm!“

Byleth nodded and put it on top of her own, noticing how thin hers actually was. With the new clothing, it sealed the warmth in even more.  
It felt strange to take something that used to belong to someone. But in a life or death situation, it started to matter less.

„I suggest we go from one house to the next, gathering everything useful we can find.“, she said and made her way to the exit.

„What did we lose? A map, compass, bandages…“, Dimitri whispered to himself but stopped once he started to hear the howling from outside as well. He hesitated to open the door.

„Don‘t worry about it, wolves are usually avoiding people out of fear.“, Byleth said while looking out of the window, „They are probably hunting the deer.

He didn‘t reply and nodded. They left the house and there were no animals to be seen. But the sounds gave the impression that something was right in front of them.  
Dimitri walked faster than usual and put his hand on her shoulder to make her do the same.

The next cabin didn‘t even have a door, giving the impression of a cave rather than a former home.  
Most of the rooms were empty, but a few things remained scattered around. Shattered glass, empty baskets, and other debris were lying on the floor.  
After looking around for a while, they decided to move on to the next house as this one had been only a hollow shell compared to the other ones in the village.

Before pushing away a knocked-over drawer that was blocking the exit, Byleth checked if there was something left inside. It contained a note which was surprisingly readable since it was protected from the weather and sunlight.

\- - -

… As someone who is supposed to manage the kingdom, she... (…) we no longer receive imports for food, claiming that the production is disrupted, crop failures or the consequences of the war...

But is it true? Did I tell you that my son living at the border says that they have everything they need? Why do they have all the food and we don't? (...)  
Our neighbor already fell ill from lack of nutrition. Her condition has improved a little so I think she‘ll get back to full health once the famine is over. 

Unfortunately, we cannot leave the country because of it. We'll get punished otherwise. It didn‘t hit that hard in this area, other villages have people starving on the streets. In that case…

\- - - 

The rest of the page was ripped out. She noticed that Dimitri was already outside waiting for her, pacing around.

After leaving the house, she detected the source of the eerie sounds on a hill in front of the neighbor's house, sitting and observing them with hollow eyes.

„They don‘t look like typical wolves, don‘t they?“, Dimitri said and looked at them more closely, „More like domesticated dogs?“

Byleth reached for the hilt of her sword. „You know what to do if anything happens.“, she said and focused on which cabin to visit next.

The next house was already buried deep in the snow and the door was more difficult to open. Since it appeared to be stuck, Dimitri applied more force and almost unhinged it completely.  
It left a gap that was wide enough to slip through.

The house seemed like time stood still. It seemed to have belonged to someone who liked collecting things as there were figures, intricate embroideries, and pottery scattered around.  
The living room floor had wool and knitted supplies lying around with its colors washed out. Its threads lead to a chair that belonged to someone. They sat peacefully with the head tilted to the side and a blanket on their lap.

„Rest in peace.“, Dimitri said and stood there for a while in silence. The corpse had frozen solid to the point of them being unrecognizable. The sight had struck him that he didn‘t continue the search right away.

„Is Cornelia responsible for this?“, she asked.  
Dimitri froze and stood still. He didn‘t answer at first as he tried to collect his thoughts. After a while, he turned to her and crossed his arms.

„After Cornelia took over Fhirdiad and handed the kingdom over to the Adrestian Empire, a severe famine occurred here. Some nobles claim that it was caused by natural circumstances or shortages from the war. I believe she caused it on purpose. To silence the uprisings and wipe out everyone by starving them.“  
He made a pause and silently stared out of the window.

"I wish I could kill her again. One time isn‘t enough.“

Byleth sighed and gave the body one last look before reaching for the exit. She gave him a pat on the shoulder to signal that there was nothing to find there.

Upon mentioning the name of that woman, many snippets of memories replayed in front of her eyes. The bloodshed, her mocking tone, the gut-wrenching revelation.

"Considering how cruel she was, was she just provoking you, or could it be the truth?", she asked.  
"We shall find out."  
"But what do you think?"

Dimitri took a deep breath. "As much as my step-mother causing the tragedy of Duscur makes no sense to me, everything in this twisted world we live in is possible."  
He turned around and stood beside her, "I want to know why it happened. Patricia would do no such thing for no reason." 

He hesitated to open the door and gave Byleth a look. It was silent and no sounds came from the outside.

"Whatever we'll find here... I'll have your back.", she answered.

"Thank you.", he said in a much more soft-spoken voice than before. 

Once they stepped outside, the sun seemed to have disappeared. It was so quiet to the point it seemed unusual without the wind or wildlife nearby.

"Watch out!", Dimitri shouted, but couldn't warn her in time. Unable to block the beast's way, it charged towards Byleth and drilled its teeth into her right leg.

She was able to shake the creature off and fell into the rotting wood.  
Before it could jump in for another attack, Dimitri grabbed its head while he was blinded by panic. He ended up grasping it right in the sharp teeth, crushing its jaw with his bare hand.

The animal collapsed to the ground with no skull left. Breathing heavy, Dimitri withdrew his hand, unsure whether the blood was his own or belonging to the creature. 

He ran up to Byleth and kneeled into the snow, with the state of fear not fading away. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...", he whispered and took a closer look at her wound. It left a deep mark.

"I will be fine.", she answered and tried to get up, but she grunted from pain and sat down again.

It started snowing and it got heavier the more seconds passed. Every last ray of warmth from the sky was gone.  
Dimitri carefully picked her up from the ground, looking around where to go. Somewhere in the distance, there seemed to be a church or monastery hidden in the mist, untouched by the decay of the rest from the village.

He started to move forward in hopes to find treatment for the injury, wading through the thick snow. Maybe the path to hell was a freezing, unforgiving place after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The line "Cheer up, cheer up my soul" comes from a russian song called "Unyvaj, duša moja" (Унывай душа моя) by Radost moya since I found it to be fitting and I headcanon Dimitri to be slavic.
> 
> Thank you for reading! February was super busy for me but now I'm getting ready to write the ending! Once this is done I have a few more one shots and a story in Dimitri's 5 year time-skip planned.
> 
> I decided to lenghten it a bit and it has one additional chapter now!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading so far!  
> This is my very first fanfic! English isn't my first language and I've never written in it before, so it could be that there are some mistakes here and there
> 
> I did a 5 year break in writing and fe3h motivated me to finally get back to it!
> 
> I already wrote all the chapters but I didn't decide whether I should edit and post the rest as well


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